Runar Søgaard (born 27 June 1967 in Kongsvinger, Hedmark, Norway) is a Norwegian leadership trainer, life-coach and motivational speaker.
In May 2004 he created some reaction during a speech in Stockholm, by saying that the Islamic prophet Muhammad had been a pedophile - see also criticism of Muhammad.[1] This led to some condemnation and protests, unlike those of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy. During the same sermon he also made disparaging remarks about Jesus and Siddharta, though none of these remarks received the same attention. Søgaard received threats from radical Islamists, and some people feared he would face the same fate as Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh. Pro-Islam columnist Jan Guillou at the Aftonbladet news paper called for calm and wrote "it would be of great harm for Sweden's Muslims if Søgaard was harmed".[2]
From 1990 to 2000 Søgaard was married to the successful Swedish singer Carola Häggkvist. Together they have a son, Amadeus, born in 1998. Søgaard is a good friend of Swedish-Nigerian artist Dr. Alban, retired footballer Thomas Brolin and table tennis player Jan-Ove Waldner. They are often seen together in Stockholm.